By Mudiaga Affe
As the support for Vice President Yemi Osinbajo for the 2023 presidency gathers momentum, the Asiwaju Bola Tinubu has said the number two helmsman will not contest the presidential election.

Nasarawa State Governor, Abdullahi Sule yesterday assured the Progressive Consolidation Group (PCG) that Vice President Osinbajo is a sellable presidential aspirant if he chooses to contest the presidential elections in 2023.

Sule stated this when members of the political group paid him a courtesy visit in Lafia, the state capital.

Aside from the governor, the group also paid courtesy calls on the Speaker, Nasarawa State House of Assembly, Ibrahim Balarebe, and the Emir of Lafia, Justice Sidi Bage (retd.).

Another group, Osinbajo Grassroots Organisation (OGO), had in early August declared that the vice president was the future of Nigeria.

There have been posters online and in major Nigerian cities suggesting Osinbajo would run for the highest office in Nigeria, but the vice president has not declared interest in the 2023 presidential race.

Osinbajo’s spokesperson, Laolu Akande, has recently said the vice president “is not in any way connected with the distribution and deployment of any 2023 political posters whether on the streets or in online videos, banners and the like on the Social Media.

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However, receiving the PCG, Sule thanked the group for the visit and for intimating him of their advocacy for the presidential candidature of Osinbajo and their desire for him to succeed President Muhammadu Buhari in 2023 to consolidate on the achievements of the present administration.

He then assured them that they had nothing to worry about if the vice president chose to contest the 2023 presidential elections, saying Osinbajo was a sellable candidate for the party whose antecedents as an astute politician speak volumes.

The governor said that President Buhari has been the strongest pillar in the APC since its formation and the concern of progressive governors of the party was how to move the party forward after Buhari’s tenure as president.

“Our concern is how we will sustain the party beyond President Buhari. So, if you come up with the idea, you know you will not only get my attention but the attention of every progressive governor in the country.

“So, if you are going about to sell this man, I want you to know that not every product is sellable but Osinbajo is sellable.

“I pray that all the work you are doing now will not be in vain. It will be good for our party and the progress of this country,” he said.

Speaking earlier, the Chairman of the PCG, Dr Aliyu Kurfi, said that though they came on their own without the consent of the VP, yet they were convinced to start the advocacy for Osinbajo to succeed Buhari given his impressive vision for the country.

“We are here sir on a very serious business, the serious business of political succession. We are on our mission but engineered by the vision of one of our elder statesmen, the Vice President of Nigeria, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo.

“We have gone through the various records of activities, life histories and of course the trends of events in politics and we have agreed as an association to work towards the promotion of his candidature.

“We made this decision because we believe with all honesty that we have a professional gentleman if given the opportunity will not only continue the good work of Mr. President but with gentlemen like you to support, make Nigeria a better place for all of us,” he said.

He said the vice president if given the mandate to rule Nigeria would ensure among other things that the rule of law was entrenched across the country due to his background in the law profession.

“His foresight in so many areas will be useful for Nigeria. He is detribalised and a man who is detached from the shallow thinking of many of us who are tribal bigots.

“We believe we have a gentleman whose thinking is simply that of Nigeria and Nigeria alone. We believe he is a gentleman whose political competence knows no bounds. So, we have every reason to sell him for the benefit of Nigeria,” he said.

Osinbajo’s supports can’t take away Tinubu’s place

In what appears like an impending clash of interest, the National Grand Patron of the Asiwaju Media Team, Ayodele Adewale, told ThisNigeria that despite the support for Osinbajo, the place of Tinubu in the 2023 presidential election was still very relevant.

Adewale said as one of Tinubu’s apostles, the vice president has denied having an interest in the 2023 presidential election.

He said, “People might tout whoever they have in mind but it does not take away the place of Tinubu. The vice-president is one of Asiwaju’s apostles and I know well that he does not have any political aspiration to contest for the President of Nigeria.

“The vice-president himself has denounced so many times, where his posters appear, that he is not interested in that. He had said what he is more interested in is to serve as deputy to President Muhammadu Buhari. We are saying that Tinubu by God’s grace will become the President in 2023,” Adewale said.

He noted that the Asiwaju Media Team, which has well over 250,000 members across the country including Abuja, has been campaigning strongly for Tinubu to accept their call to run as the President of Nigeria in 2023.